


What Lies Beneath

by roguefaerie (samidha)



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Case Fic, Closer to original lore than canon, Cursed Dean Winchester, It's For a Case, Little Mermaid Elements, M/M, Martyr Dean, Mermaids, Mermen, Merperson Dean Winchester, Muteness, Nonbinary Character, Nonbinary Dean Winchester, One Shot, Other, Platonic Soulmates, Queer Dean Winchester, Selectively Mute Dean Winchester, Self-Esteem Issues, Sirens, Soulmates Dean Winchester & Sam Winchester, Telepathy, The Author is Trans so Take That In If You Must, Timeline What Timeline, Water, Witches, Yule, Yule 2018, episode format, self-realization
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-18
Updated: 2018-12-18
Packaged: 2019-09-22 09:54:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17057603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/samidha/pseuds/roguefaerie
Summary: Dean kisses a boy and the kiss comes with a curse. But it may just be something that causes Dean to question everything and learn something along the way.





	What Lies Beneath

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sirensnares](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sirensnares/gifts).



> This is somewhere between a G and a PG but not PG-13 so it's rated as such. This was written partly for a young fan, and hopefully passes muster for their family. If for some reason you feel like it skirts too many issues to remain PG, well, this is why. Please don't spread nastiness on a gift for a young fan (who will not be tagged/gifted here). Happy holidays. This is not holiday-themed in any way, but was one of my more important projects in December.

It starts when Dean wants to kiss a boy.

Not just any boy.

Of course he’s not just any boy. They’re on a case, and that means literally anyone is suspect except Sam, but Dean is pulled in before Sam can really stop him and it would be funny (okay, Sam definitely has been amused by this in the past--it’s hardly the first time), but now Dean’s cursed.

And when Dean’s cursed, he can come close to dying, and that isn’t funny at all.

It makes Sam’s heart thud in his chest in a bad stuccato that almost physically hurts.

There have been plenty of times he’s almost lost Dean but (and) they echo through him.

It would be funny.

But Dean’s gone past embarrassed all the way to panicked, because he sent Sam back to the motel room for long enough to kiss the boy and that’s when Dean found out the boy was a witch.

Dean forgot (Dean forgets what he doesn’t want to know) men can be witches too, or warlocks, or whatever you want to call them--magic.

And now Dean’s under one hell of a magic spell.

It’s bad enough that Dean doesn’t stop at holing Sam up in a motel room. No. He’s going to solve this one without Sam.

Because Sam is--could be--could be--the target, a target.

*~*~*

By the time Dean gets back to the room after kissing the witch-warlock with the whammy, he’s lost his voice. This is perfectly normal. It’s not something everyone knows, but Dean’s always gone super quiet under actual stress that he can’t handle. Sam didn’t even think to question it as different until they met Lucas in that town by the lake and he’d learned the truth about Dean’s quiet times. They have always just dealt with it.

But this time is different. 

This time when Dean writes the note that says he lost his voice again, his handwriting is shaky and his eyes are panicked. He writes down, _I’M CURSED_ and underlines it three times.

It would be funny, but it isn’t funny. The curses are never supposed to be funny.

After a day or so, they see a strange man and when he zeroes in on Dean like Sam’s brother is some kind of homing beacon, the guy drops to the ground outside the laundromat and that’s it, Dean is freaked.

Dean writes more down, just as panicked. _It’s not safe for you, you’re leaving_.

What does Dean know that Sam doesn’t know?

He’ll try to ask Dean when Dean’s out of the shower. Dean’s in the shower again and it’s definitely weird because he’s never exactly been Mr. Neat and Clean.

Then Sam sees it. Not just one bottle of water, but a little case of pints of water that he didn’t buy.

Water.

Next to the water is a note. _You need to leave. I’m cursed. I can’t go with you. You need to go to Bobby’s._

In all the times Dean’s kissed a boy, he’s never flipped out like this.

He’s never sent Sam away.

And that’s what makes it very not funny. Very Not Funny in capital letters.

Sam is freaking out. Quietly. He calls Bobby and talks just as quietly, but fast. “Yeah, uh, Bobby. I think…”

There are a lot of things that Sam thinks, sometimes. That Dean doesn’t know Sam’s figured it out about the men Dean likes. That Dean sometimes doesn’t think about what actually makes sense if he’s cursed.

Why is he splitting them up?

They can work a case quicker together.

Sam fills Bobby in as quickly as he can, before Dean’s out of the shower. It turns out he doesn’t have to talk as fast as he actually does, because the shower keeps running. (Okay, he’s going to check on Dean in a minute. Right after this phone call. Because this is just getting weird. Their kind of weird. _Their_ kind of weird.) “So he wants me to come stay with you,” he finishes.

“And that’s all you know?” Bobby asks.

“That’s all.”

“That’s weird. That’s just not like Dean.”

“Yeah, but there was this guy at the laundromat.”

“You didn’t say anything about a laundromat.”

“Bobby, we’re always on the road.”

“I know, genius, but you didn’t tell me this part.”

“Well, I think… Maybe Dean thinks… I don’t know what he thinks, Bobby, I try, but this is just….”

“It’s a little much. Normally Dean’s the last person to suggest a damn break.”

Sam sighs. “I know. And Bobby, I’m kinda freaked.”

“Well...you tell him you know you’re always welcome, and you’ll go, but I wish I could talk to the kid.”

*~*~*

Sam leaves the water for Dean. He gets his own at the vending machine. A little test. And sure enough, by the time he’s back, Dean’s chugged the whole six pack.

Dean hands him a note.

_You. Bobby’s. Me….that dock outside._

Dean definitely knows more about what’s going on than Sam does right now.

Sam hasn’t even been thinking about the fact that they’re close to water again.

Dean hasn’t even been near water that many times in his middle American life and maybe…

Dean slams the table once, loud.

_Go._

Nothing’s happened to Sam, but whatever it is that Dean’s so spooked about, he seems absolutely sure he knows this is the way it has to happen.

*~*~*

Sam gets in a car. It’s not the Impala. It’s blue. And he does what he’s told to do. For once. He drives to Bobby’s. He doesn’t stop once. He’s too freaked out that he won’t be able to do it.

Won’t be able to leave Dean to solve his own case.

*~*~*

Dean gets in the water. He doesn’t worry about the cops, or if the water is safe to swim in. Sam leaves and Dean just starts swimming.

As soon as he’s submerged in the water, he feels better, safer. He read once in one of Sam’s books about people liking the water better if they’re going through something, or whatever. Something like that.

And yeah. Dean’s going through something.

That guy at the laundromat--Dean had got him with the whammy. The curse-whammy.

In the water, there aren’t people. That’s what Dean’s going to go with.

*~*~*

Sam doesn’t know how Dean knows all about his curse this time. The truth is, it’s because the warlock explained the whole damn thing to Dean as it was happening. Evil Monologue.

Dean’s used to hearing from Sam that he shouldn’t touch anything in witch’s shops. Sam always knows it’s a witch’s shop before Dean does.

But Sam’s never told him not to touch _people_.

Sam’s trying to be accepting. Accepting that Dean is, well, just that way. Whatever way Dean is.

Sure, they exchange snide remarks. But Sam wouldn’t be snide about this--about men.

That would be cruel, and there’s a difference between brotherly teasing and cruel.

Deep down, Sam knows the things that have always made Dean feel insecure.

And this might be one of them. It might not, but it’s not something Sam takes chances with.

*~*~*

_Mermaid. You turned into a mermaid. Mer-Person. Mermaid._

Once it’s lodged into Dean’s brain, it doesn’t come out again. Maybe it’ll stay there forever. The way they know if anyone’s going to get cursed, it’s Dean. 

But Sam wouldn’t make fun of Dean for this, would he?

Maybe Dean should have let Sam stay. They could have figured this out together. But when they saw that guy drop to the pavement--knowing what caused it--

Nothing had happened to Sam but Dean couldn’t risk it.

Now Sam is a phone call away, and it might as well be an ocean.

Anyway, Dean doesn’t know if there was a way out of the water--not anymore.

*~*~*

So Sam's a phone call away--a phone call that Dean can’t actually make. He’s going to have to-- 

He has to solve this one on his own.

But first he needs to just stay in the water. For a while.

*~*~*

Sam drives at top speed, and is in Bobby’s junkyard in record time.

“This doesn’t make any sense,” they say, almost in unison.

“Tell me the whole thing from the beginning,” Bobby says, and they both know Sam doesn’t want to. Sam’s dejected. Exhausted.

But this might keep him afloat.

“Time, Sam. We might not have that much time.”

Sam’s heart starts racing again as he talks through what he knows. Even the parts he thinks Dean might not want Sam to say. When Sam gets to the part about the witch, Bobby let’s out an: “Aw, hell. So all this is ‘cause he’s embarrassed?”

“I don’t know, Bobby,” Sam says. “It seems like more--”

“Because everyone knows what Dean’s like,” Bobby says, “We’ve always known. You can’t keep Dean away from a body for five seconds. Ain’t nothin’ wrong with it, it’s just...Dean.”

“I know, Bobby, and he knows, and...I just think it’s more than that, this time.”

“Right. The laundromat.”

“The laundromat guy, yeah. I guess he thinks I’m in danger.”

“Well, you’re not. Not like he thinks. Else something woulda already happened, right?”

“Right. But-- I guess we better consult the lore.”

“I was gonna suggest we turn right back around and put some sense into that idjit, but you’re right. We better at least try to figure out what we’re heading into before we head back. C’mon inside, Sam. Let’s get to it.”

*~*~*

Later, they’re pouring over books when Bobby shuts one and says, “So all he wrote was ‘I’m cursed’?”

“Yeah, Bobby.”

“And then you just...left?”

“He wasn’t going to let me stay.”

Bobby sighs. “Fine. Right. So. Water. It’s a water curse. And he was heading to the dock. And he’s embarrassed.”

“He was scared, Bobby.”

“Embarrassed and scared.”

“So what do we do, Bobby?”

“Well, at some point, we probably head back. It’s not like we can help him that much from here. But first we figure out what we’re dealin’ with.”

“If we can. Bobby…”

“He’s scared for us. Not for him. For us. And if that ain’t got Dean written all over it I dunno what does.”

“Exactly what I was thinking.”

Bobby’s lost in thought for a moment. He’s planned more hunts than the boys combined and he’ll come up with something--hopefully in time.

*~*~*

Dean finds out he’s wrong. There are people in the water. There are.

There are mermaids. Merpeople.

Dean thinks of the eerily quiet dock. How he had been afraid of people--men, he’ll be honest, he was expecting run of the mill men--following him into the water.

And a few did, but Dean was in too much of a haze to wonder much about them. They swam toward Dean, and Dean hid his eyes, not out of modesty but because it just seemed safer for the men.

Jesus--if they’re not monsters, this makes him a murderer, doesn’t it? He imagines Sam’s voice in the back of his head, with the perennial questions about what counts as a monster--does Sam?

This is when Dean’d start sweating bullets, except he’s already submerged..

How is he ever going to get back to Sam?

Dean never tells Sam how much at least half of his conscience seems to come from his younger brother. And Bobby. Bobby’s got a part to play in all that, too, but Sam’s been playing the role for as long as Dean could hold him in his arms.

Dean forcibly pulls away from the thoughts of Sam and concentrates on the scene developing in the water.

There are men. Men in the water. And each one has a tail.

A mer-tail.

Dean looks down at what constitutes a body right now, and blinks. So quickly, the transformation was so fast that Dean didn’t really think about it, the elongating of certain parts and how they came together. 

Dean has a tail too.

Dean looks down, feeling a little bit woozy and disoriented.

It’s happened. Just like the witch said it would.

Then Dean sees him. At the center of the circle of merpeople surrounding him.

Dean points.

The answer comes telepathically. Dean covers what remains of the ears on this body but it doesn’t stop the words.

_Of course, Dean. Of course these are my people. What did you really expect? There’s more where that kiss came from, you know…_

For the first time, Dean’s scared for himself. He sent Sam and Bobby away. Of course, neither of them could breathe underwater (goddamn, Dean’s breathing underwater) for this long but they could have helped. Dean could do with what amounts to half of his conscience. 

He’s probably been too rash. And now Sam is so far away….

*~*~*

“It’s a water creature, Bobby. Do we really need to know more before we head back?” Sam asks. 

“Well, how does it pass? The curse.”

“Dean kissed the warlock. But after that…”

“Dean thinks he can kill men just lookin’ at ‘em. And it seems like the curse, what it’s doin’, Dean knows. The warlock probably had a fun time explaining.”

“Bobby?”

“Yeah, Sam?”

“Do you think the warlock has him now?”

“Maybe we best get movin’. We can talk about what it is on the way.”

And that’s how Bobby Singer ends up in the back seat of the car Sam drove in with.

*~*~*

Dean thought that mermaids were women.

Maybe that was silly. After all, somehow they’ve got to be able to make more. More mermaids. And these mermen--that’s what they seemed--they were plenty vicious enough.

_Merpeople, Dean. If you must. It’s not as if we’re actually binary. Is that the word you’re using for these things these days?_

Dean wouldn’t know. But it’s pretty clear the land of men and women is somewhere else entirely from where Dean is now.

Dean feels confused. Confused and scared. But also….at home. The world under the waves is home. This body is home. Being around the warlock merperson--that’s home, too.

_No._

Sam is home. Sam is home. Bobby is home too. And Dean’s Baby. That’s where home is.

_Have you thought about why you didn’t hurt Sam, Dean?_

Well, Dean tried, but nothing he came up with made sense.

 _You’re the same blood_ , the warlock says.

 _Monsters_ , Dean thinks.

_Or just right. We don’t feel wrong in our skin, Dean. We’re just fine._

Dean shivers.

_If you’re really uncomfortable here--_

_You cursed me!_

_\--there are ways to get you back on land. I thought maybe a change of scenery…._

_That’s crap_ , Dean answers. _You just wanted to find someone to mess with_.

And Dean supposed that was what mermaids were for, sirens that they were. He had learned the hard way, and that it could have to do with gender for some of them, but certainly not all or even most.

Still. When Dean looks at the warlock they still feel drawn to him. Them. The warlock. The witch.

Dean suddenly remembers that the enchanter had used the word witch easily. As if it was a comfortable identifier.

_That’s right, Dean. You could even call me your Ursula. Though, of course, some people think I’m prettier…._

 

Dean blinks in the murky water, realizing their vision is enhanced as well. With each moment they’re sliding more and more comfortably into the role that fits them down here. But--

But--there’s someone Dean’s not supposed to forget.

There’s someone.

 _Should we have dinner?_ , the witch asks him, and Dean’s stomach flips.

*~*~*

Dean may be having trouble remembering, but Sam is driving like a bat out of hell again. He hasn’t even given Bobby time to load up his truck, even though it’s almost always in a state of readiness for something or other to go down. They hit the road too hard. They just have to get to Dean.

*~*~*

Dean is floating, and as if at the demands of the sea creatures around them, people do get in the water--men, Dean thinks, although any idea of gender is slippery now.

Dean watches the creatures choose a human and rip their neck open, one at a time, and then begin to feast.

Thank goodness Sam isn’t anywhere near here, Dean thinks with shame. Dean’ll have to eat eventually.

Then.

There’s a crash from overhead, like somebody diving in resolutely, almost a desperate cannonball.

And Sam. Dean sees Sam.

Sam jerks him forward and up. Out. As Dean’s fear rises in him. But Dean’s mute as he’s ever been and the merpeople are going to swarm Sam--and--

 _Ah_ , says the witch. _Our own blood returns. Yours, really, Dean, I know. Calm yourself. We mean him no harm._

_He’s family._

And with that, Dean is yanked, gasping, to the surface.

*~*~*

Dean’s hands shake as there’s nothing to do but write, write, write. There are buckets of water all around them and when Dean feels off-balance or the writing becomes unintelligible they pour more water over Dean’s head.

The whole curse is laid out on paper. And then.

_I didn’t know it wouldn’t affect Sam. Usually…._

Sam smiles a bit sardonically. “Well I guess, Dean, once you’re one kind of monster…”

_You didn’t kill anyone. You’re not a monster._

Sam blinks. And Dean thinks from what shows on Sam’s face, maybe this was the whole point of this, getting sick--cursed.

“That guy. Laundromat guy. We probably shouldn’t go near him, but we tracked him to a local ER and he’s in for observation but he’s going to be okay, Dean. You didn’t kill anyone either.”

_Are you sure?_

“Sure.”

_You’re not just trying to make me feel better?_

Dean watches Sam choose his words carefully. “The curse wasn’t at full effect yet, Dean.”

_How do I get out of this tail and junk?_

Sam laughs. “I dunno. I kinda like you this way.”

_SAM._

“Bobby’s working on that part. Can you breathe?”

_Yeah._

“We’ve got you, Dean.”

_You weren’t supposed to come back--_

“What, and just let you live by a dock for the rest of your life? Of course we were gonna come back.”

Dean sighs. _Okay._

Bobby mutters, “Hex bag for now,” when he comes out of the back seat of the Impala this time, books in his arms. “The curse took a while to take full effect and it’ll take a while to simmer down, whether you two are...platonic soulmates or not.”

Sam smiles. “And you really thought I’d just abandon you by a dock…”

Dean looks at his feet--the place where his feet should be and nods sheepishly. Because Sam’s right. Dean did. 

“You thought it would be better for me?”

Dean nods.

“Now who’s the one with their self esteem under the floor, Dean?”

Dean shrugs. Sam’s got Dean there. _Thanks. For coming back._

They recover at Bobby’s house, with Baby comfortable in the yard this time. The further they drive away from the warlock, the witch, the less Dean feels like one of them. The scales and tail melt away and it turns out Dean had never been a murderer of a human after all. 

And in the end, that’s the only way Dean would have wanted it, something that can be lived with no matter what else is heaped on Dean over time.

One thing lingers, though. Dean’s not going back into a binary. Not for anything. In that one aspect of the curse, Dean has managed to find freedom. And that’s just the way it’s going to be.

They’re standing out at the Impala, beers in hand.

“Did we walk away from a case, Sammy?” Dean asks, a dim croak as soon as his voice is starting to come back.

“Dean. I think you were the case. This time.”

“All those people…”

“Bobby went back. No one was there, Dean. Not a trace. He stayed for a week.”

“But they could come back.”

“And if they do, Dean, we’ll go back and get them. What matters is, you’re safe right now. And I think we’ve all...cheesy as it sounds, Dean, we’ve all learned from this. Sometimes, you know, the case is us.”

“Sometimes the case is us,” Dean agrees. “Hey, Sam?”

“Yeah?”

“Is non-binary really a thing? Like for a gender?”

“Yeah, Dean. It is.”

“I thought so…”

And Sam smiles.

**Author's Note:**

> Some comfy TV tropes I've used before. :) I enjoyed this and its not-that-heavy-on-the-angst feel. Hope you did too.


End file.
